Another reason that hasn't been mention is traffic. Now sure you say "what the fuck do you mean traffic? if some one stops im front of you, you just go up and around him" but think about it. we are used to drivin around in a 2 dimensional plane and have a lot of accidents as it is. now think about people drivin in a 3 dimensional environment there might not be as much "traffic", but believe me, the number of accidents would grow exponentially

What if you install a becon device in each car? When aproaching a flying object in a collision path it alerts you the best possible route where a flying car is not?

It looks like these things can hover, If that is true I am sure it can be riged to kinda stop easily by angling the engines at an angle to maintain altitude and work against the direction you were headed.

Think outside that box people. With the ability to network electronicaly like we can now, much of these problems can be fixed.

Maybe set up a sky car to automaticaly take one of 4 routes set by priority in even of possible acident.

1.) up is priority 12.) Right is 2nd priority3.) Down is 3rd priority4.) if clear left is 4th priority.

Car's computer looks for becons and approching speads and picks best route to avoid collision. I doubt it would even be that hard to do in a flying car like this.

A stinger missle make something like 15,000 adjustments and calculations per second on it course to hit it's target. They were developed in what the 70's? early 80's?

Originally posted by unreal:Technically I have most of the qualifications to fly an F-16. My qualifications are "Private Pilot: Airplane Single Engine Land," which is precisely what an F-16 is. However, one would most likely need a type rating in that airplane.

Yep, like a millitary office for one. and know how to opertare all the radios and load the crytographic info so our boys know your freindly and not enemy, (IFF codes). And have attended a few millitary piolet schools. And pass physical stamia tests to be sure you can stand the g-forces.

I have no doubt you can do all that. Honestly. But it requires a bit more that a piolet license and some extra ratings.

The officer alone is about 6 years off your life.

4 in collages, 1 in OCS(office canidate school)actualy it is 3 months but waiting for the school slot, getting gear, a kinda basic training etc etc. Airborne school for any piolet. Tons of classes and breifings on the F-16 before you ever touch the thing. You would be one busy boy to get there.

Not saying you are not. Just you are not on the right track to sit behind that stick.

I think they would probably end up building the gas stations or refueling stations on the ground. I also think it would be illegal to fly over a certain altitude. There would need to be a decent buffer between the lowest altitude for planes and the highest for plaars (i'm calling these flying cars plaars), unreal do you have any suggestions on that?

There would probably be emergency tanks that are required to be full if you get pulled over....err under or soemthing. This way, if you run out of fuel (which you never should anyways) in the air then you can use the emergency fuel to get to a gas station. The reason you should't run out of fuel is because like a spare tire, it isn't something you should run on. Only emergencies.

The plaars would need to go through checks at special regulated stations to make sure they are safe to fly and everything.

Maybe the engines would be built with a fale safe so that they automatically level off at a certain alitutude. That'd be better than just saying "don't fly that high" cause that would just make you want to do it. Another thing they could do if you run out of gas, ejection seats. You don't die, you just lose your car. Fair enough for being stupid enough to run out of fuel in the first place.

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The lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him.-Socrates

Wouldn't planes only be in the Plaar Zone when they are landing or in an emergency? At places like airports and whatnot, there would be a plaarking lot away from the airport, then shuttles or maglevs to the airport. If there is an emergency, a plane needing to land in a field or something but plaars in the way, the pilot doesn't have to worry about the plaars, he should do what they would normally do. The plaar drivers on the other hand would be alerted (ahead of time) by their on-board oh-shit-ographer that a plane is coming and they would get out of the way as they were required to know how to do to get their plaar license.

Drake- the eject thing sounds good at first. Then in the next moment I realize there are more the likely going to be plaars all around you, not to mention the few people that still on the ground (in the future most people live in floating apartments...not really...well maybe). I think better than a parachute (and you didn't say it had to be a parachute, I just assume) would be a hanglider, but there is still the plaar falling and killing things. They could just do like unreal said and do an emergency coast thing. But I still think better than that is an emergency fuel that only gets tapped into when the first is empty. (or low pressure or low amperage or lacking Qierhasfles.)

unreal- the streets are pretty crowded too.

I think, if they just make the laws really strict, the tests really hard, and the plaars well made, then they can start good and end it better. As long as they don't start off with the laws too loose I think it could be very safe. Maybe make the minimum plaar license age 25 or something. Have a lower acceptable blood/alcohol level - nationwide so there is no bullshit with state laws. Have much higher safety standards, there will still be some accidents but if you make these things strong enough they won't just fall out of the sky after an accident. Of course it would be required by law to sink down to the ground and do the trading insurance thing. No weapons, no dangerous chemicals, etc. If they start off tough, no one will bitch and get laws thrown out when they tighten them later.

That stuff makes sense to me, but alot of you guys look at things differently so maybe you see something wrong there that i don't.

Cold Sunn, I don't understand why a hangglider would be better than a parachute. Would you mind expaling that for me? What if, instead of reserve fuel for the main jets, there was a seperate fuel tank for a second set of smaller jets that would only be strong enough to get you a couple feet off the ground and only for about ten, fifteen miles. Then, when you start to run out of gas, you hear/see the warning light, you say "shit," then you get your plaar down close to the ground, the reserve jets kick in and there you are hobbling your stupid ass to the nearest gas station.

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The lover of inquiry must follow his beloved wherever it may lead him.-Socrates

Originally posted by Drake:Another thing they could do if you run out of gas, ejection seats. You don't die, you just lose your car. Fair enough for being stupid enough to run out of fuel in the first place.

You fucking moron... Lets see, your dumbass runs out of gas, you're 300 feet in the air, theres two levels of "space car" traffic, and a school under that, your not refueling your car, in that scinario, just possibly killed 900 people, smooth...

Drake- With a hangglider you don't have to be as far off the ground for it to work. With parachutes, at some heights you might as well just smash yourself with a rock and halfway open your parachute. Also you could maneuver around easier, I think.

I've said it once and I'll say it again: this will never become a reality. Flying is not as easy as it looks! Someone who decides to just hop into a "plaar" without a high amount of training is not contributing to convenience, but is a liability.

which is why more rigorous training may be standardized. Never say never. I found out recently that my friend knows how to fly. He rented some plane last weekend and flew it around - and he's actually a medical student. Who's to say that many many people can't undergo similar training to fly their damn "plaar"'s.